Various types of identification systems for determining vehicle characteristics for statistical purposes are known, for example for determining types of vehicles participating in traffic in given measuring point or searching for specific vehicles. The efficiency of such systems depends on quality and type of input data, data processing algorithms and quality of reference data. The effectiveness of typical systems amounts to 90%, which is an unsatisfactory value, as it leaves a large part of vehicles unrecognised, and these vehicles have to be classified manually. This involves high costs of classification and extends its duration.
The international patent application WO 2004/042673 discloses a method for automatic, real-time vehicle identification, in which a video, presenting objects moving in specified field of view, is obtained. Models of cars are defined in a car model database CMDB by characteristic geometric features, described by a mathematical model, which are compared with data from obtained video frames converted to mathematical models. Processed images are normalised, i.e. rotated and scaled, depending on data, which describe rotation angle of the data-supplying device and its distance from vehicles to identify. Such solution is difficult to implement on a larger scale, as it requires individual adjustment for specific data-supplying device. Moreover, it does not take into account image deformations resulting from device wear-out.
The aim of the invention is to provide a system and a method for vehicle identification, which allows to identify characteristics of a vehicle automatically and in real-time, assuring high effectiveness of identification and allowing the analysis of images of vehicles obtained in different conditions and from various image sources.